Research on the Silicon Carbide Layer of Coated Fuel Particles

ＲｅｓｅａｒｃｈｏｎｔｈｅＳｉｌｉｃｏｎＣａｒｂｉｄｅＬａｙｅｒｏｆＣｏａｔｅｄＦｕｅｌＰａｒｔｉｃｌｅｓＸｕＳｈｉｊｉａｎｇ（徐世江），ＹａｎｇＢｉｎｇ（杨冰），ＺｈｕＪｕｎｇｕｏ（朱钧国），ＺｈａｎｇＢｉｎｇｚｈｏｎｇ（张秉忠）；ＺｈａｏＺｈｉｃ...

Research on the Silicon Carbide Layer of Coated Fuel Particles

The 10MW high temperature gas-cooled test reactor (HTR-10) under construction at INET uses whole ceramic fuel elements. The main barrier which prevents fission product release is the SiC layer of the coated fuel particles. Fabrication of high quality SiC layers is one of the key R&D tasks for the HTR-10 fuel element. The SiClayer was deposited on the fuel particles in a 50 mm conical fluidized bed using the CVD (chemical vapour deposition) technique. The density, thickness, strength and elastic modulus of the SiC layer were measured. The microstructure was observed using SEM (scanning electron microscope ). Parameters were established for manufacturing the SiC layer of the coated fuel particles to be used in the HTR-10. It was found that the traditional density measurement by the sink-float method is questionable in the low density region and that the SiC layer may be contaminated by uranium under certain conditions.